Institutional Violence in Modern Society

¶ … Institutional Violence in Modern Society

Sociology of Violence Today

In Iadicola and Shupe's book, "Violence, Inequality, and Human Freedom," they addressed the different types of violence that exist and persist in today's contemporary society. In light of the recent terrorist attacks against the United States, the issue of institutional violence becomes an even more controversial topic. Taking into the context of institutional violence the 9/11 attack, it can be said that the victim were the Americans, generally the United States of America, while the suspects was purportedly the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, which mainly operated in Afghanistan.

What eventually happened in the aftermath of 9/11 is reminiscent of Sarat's analysis in "When the State Kills." In it, he illustrated how society's sense of retributive justice ultimately results to the incorrect perception of institutional violence. Using the case of Timothy McVeigh in the infamous Oklahoma bombing as an example, Sarat showed how tragedy tended to mislead people to treat justice as retributive rather than just. The bombing's victims' family equated the extent of McVeigh's crime only with death; any punishment not equivalent to death would be unfair and unjust. Sarat's example is illustrative of Iadicola and Shupe's analysis and description of how institutional violence is extant and practiced in society today.

And how is institutional violence enforced in today's society? Taking cue from Iadicola and Shupe's example, the 9/11 attack depicted how institutional violence was used to pursue a country's interest, and blurs the distinction that defines the perpetrators from the victims.

Initially, the 9/11 attack was attributed to the Al-Qaeda group, and people from all over the world reacted with anger, in the same way that the victims of the Oklahoma bombing had expressed their grief and need for retribution against McVeigh's crimes. Thus, initially, the U.S. was the victim of a terrorist attack. However, the perpetrator-victim dichotomy was eliminated with the U.S.'s offensive attack against Iraq, or as the Bush administration specifically claimed, 'Saddam Hussein's regime.' When this happened, institutional violence was enforced, giving the U.S. The "license" to seek revenge because of the extent and seriousness that the attack has caused the country and the world.